A Multisite Randomized Control Trial to Examine the Impact of ABRACADABRA on Early Literacy in Northern Australia: An Analysis of Implementation Fidelity

• In Event: Use of a Variety of Models and Frameworks to Investigate Fidelity of Implementation

Abstract

To address Indigenous students’ poor literacy outcomes in Northern Australia, a web-based literacy tool, ABRACADABRA was implemented in six Northern Territory primary schools. A pre-test, post-test parallel group, individual student multisite randomized control trial was conducted for one semester in early 2010. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which implementation fidelity impacted student outcomes. Indigenous and non-Indigenous students who received the ABRA instruction significantly outperformed control students in phonological awareness and phoneme-grapheme correspondence. Implementation fidelity measures accounted for between 5% and 15% of the variance of ABRA students’ scores. Overall, higher levels of implementation fidelity were positively associated with higher scores in reading, lending support to the finding that computer-based instruction can improve student literacy.

Authors

• Jennifer R. Wolgemuth, University of South Florida

• Philip C. Abrami, Concordia University

• Janet Helmer, Charles Darwin University

• Robert Samuel Savage, McGill University

• Helen Harper, Charles Darwin University

• Tess Lea, 'Charles Darwin University